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    8fc* THE Xr^A-DEJEU pjfa, 339, SHMaaimm ...

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    TEE ERENCH IN ALGERIA. Qam story of Capt...

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    The Social Science Association. The Nati...

    plored . Aad under social eoosiomy lies the relation o £ * he enapkfy' -er to tike employed , of tlie citizen to the Stale , of the siiperaruMiated or helpless citizen to the able-bodied . The first uros §» ecti © rather confirms our apprehension that the new scientific society is only to deal empirically with , proper rules for the best management of things as they are . "" The object of tfoe National Association is * as its name implies , to aid the development of the social sciences , and to . guide the public mind to the best practical means of

    promoting the AmeiwiBaent of the Law , the Advancement of Education , tbe Prevention and IRepr ^ ssion of Crime * t & e B-efornaation . of Criminals , the Establasbaaantof due Sanitary Regulations , . and the recognition of sound principlesinallquesifcii & ns of Social Economy . " But amongst the general 'Committee we find John S & mtaj & t MEtacu the philosopher who

    first used , the word ' sociology / South-wood Smutb ^ , wiao has &> glaaaoe far beyond his own science of physic ; JT < ohn . Seudost , one or" the new iphyeiologicsal moralists ^ Iiord SEkAFTESBxrB , xandthe . Eeverend ~ Fb , ebh » ic Ma . ubice , philosophers ia spite off their bigotry ; Aifbed JEEixii , an hereditary'sociologist ; Pakdst & ton , that stmdent wiho aaa made so nauch progress ever since he eaiieared the bad school of the

    House oi CommoaiS ; John IUtsselIi , preserving the freshness of youth in his maturest studies . ; Abthttb HaIIiAM lEiLtFosr , amoiiher student ; Wxlili & m . Grii 3 ssDONE , -who is ambitions to he raoTe teacher tham student ; GodeeHch , for whom we may reverse that express-ion ; Abthujb Hei ^ s p ladeed w « must break short , or we might particularize nearly the whole general commitJjee .

    In tibe -dejpartiaiental committees will be found the saaae tnames Tedistribated , and others not less tcoE & spicuous—Professor Ivevi , Abthus -Symokbs , G ^ EOEau Dawson , Ho- ; bace Mann , O . IB . Adikebles :, and above all , M . D . Hill . There is one advantage in the specific objects "wihdch are laid before the society . The general committee combines a various and wide amount of influence , standing in different classes of society , in different parts of

    the country , in different sections of inquiry , and representing the most opposite opinions . Specific objects will be the first means to combine these varying influences and opinions , and profounder inquiries will naturally follow after the men liave become emboldened at their work . Should the Society terminate "with nothing but suggestions as to the beat regulations for sua existing state of things , it " will be an incorporated bathos , and will be punished by the ridicule that it will draw on

    itsel £ M may have some difficulty in avoiding the opposite danger , of launching into wide generalities , into theories as yet not sufluviecntly warranted , and imto bootless inquiries . But lEreBident Bkottgheam is a man capable bath of loosening too great . restraint and of -applying a ? estraint when , necessary . Nor do we find in the chairmen , of t-Ue . departmental committees—Johjh ILussEiiL for luriapnvidence , 3 ? akjust « iton for education , the JBialiop of liONcoN for punishment and reformation , Lord . Stahlux for public health —any Bigm of the opposite-qualities .

    Perhaps the conamitteo -winch has the heaviest burden thnown upo * it , and , wiith some ^ exceptions ,, shows the least Bign o £ atrexvgth , is that of * Bocial economy ; ' Lord Lxttjei / jl'on bears the jjepcute of high intellect and generous feeling , but Le also appears to bo Bomewhat under the restraints of sectarian opinion . Many . members of this committee , winch ought to go far in ita acopp , aro oertaiiily wedded , to tike ehortcoming philosophy of modern economy ^ bu * in the list wo see stronger alien , such as Qodeuioji , CHi 3 ti . Es Bj ^ a ^ , Am : hub , IIeips , and Joaiwr SrruAaa : Mix . ! ..

    8fc* The Xr^A-Dejeu Pjfa, 339, Shmaaimm ...

    8 fc * THE Xr ^ A-DEJEU pjfa , 339 , SHMaaimm 5 , 1857 l _ y ^ j |^ HWH _ BW ^ " ' ~ ^^ w ^———_^„_ — ________!____* ± ™ -- '" ' ¦~| ' 1

    Tee Erench In Algeria. Qam Story Of Capt...

    TEE ERENCH IN ALGERIA . Qam story of Captain T > qirka . u shows Aiow Frenchmen can acfc as well as write the romances which , seem , to us intense and exaggerated . The French military chief of an Arab bureau , he practised savage vices with all the cunning of civilizatioii . He was eoafse , strong-minded , and active , dominating the indolent minds of the Arabs—a Napoleok

    in . his small wayc the Aga Ben Abdai / - l ah was < chief of a tribe—* a man of weight in the province of Oran : a feud arose between the two . The ^ Frenchman was jealous of the local influence of the Aga , and , it is alleged , also afraid of the discovery of peculations which the JLga might denounce . The imputed motives of the snen are obscure , but the main facts are clear .

    On . the 12 th of last September ( nearly a year ago ) the diligence between Tlemcen and Qran was stopped by Arab marauders . Amongst the passengers was the Aga Ben AbdailIiASe . The other passengers , after a short contest , fled , and when they returned with help , they found in the coupe the dead body of Ben Ajbdallah , his secretary mortally wounded lying by his side . The crime of course caused great sensation in Oran , and Montattbak , the general of the

    district , urged Doineau to discover the murderers , for that officer was , it appears , an active inaa in that line , Doinejut said , " I suspect the tribe of the Beni Nar ; " the general indicated Tlem-cen as the home of the criminals ; but the widow of Ben Abdallah , breaking through the reserve of the harem , rushed into the street and accused Aga Bel Hadj . This man is an Arab counterpart of

    Doinea . it ; to the low cunning and savage greed of the Arab he add 3 the politeness and ' philosophy' of a Parisian . He is an officer of the Legion of Honour , and has been nine years in . the service of France . He had been grossly insulted by the murdered man , who had said to him , " Oh , son of a dog!—it is your father who is a dog . " " Whereupon Bel Hadj laid his hand upon his beard , and swore he would have the old man ' s blood .

    Shortly after he was arrested , Bel Had j , and seventeen other Arabs , confessed that they had murdered Ben Abdallah , but that Captain Doineatj directed them , partly using Ins official power , but relying mainly , it is clear , on the force of his personal character . If the eighteen Arabs who made this singular confession were of one story , their evidence would be satisfactory ; but they lie like chambermaids . Each day of the

    trial betrays new contradictious . Bjll Hao ) j is , however , the prince of prevaricators . He tells on the Grab day a circumstantial story , accusing Doineau . On the next day , during the iexamination of another accusing witness , the Frenchman , exclaims , of couxse ' with emotion : ' " Let Bel Had j be again examined . It is impossible that that man , whora I have never injured , land whose good services to France have won him ihe rank of

    Aga , and the decoration of officer of the Legion of Honour , should not return to the truth . " This curious way of taking evidence is , it seems , allowed ia French courts , and Bel Habj ia called ; ogain to c-onfront the Kodja Si Mohamed , who has sworu against DoizriSAU . Buju Habj is asked Again to tell tho truth : " Did Doinea . u command them to kill the Aga ? " Bel Hadj hesitates , then

    turns to tho ICodja , umd pressing his hands on hia breast , and in a voice of remajrlc & blo sweetness , says to him , " Now that wo aro in the face of death , should wo accuse the Captain ? " This , of course , produces ' lively sonaation . ' But tho next day this silken Aga again accuses Doinjsau ; and so ho goes on from prevarication to prevarication , and ' truly lies on , to the close . ' One day of tho

    tnal he quits hia place , approaches £ kt Wo GJenerals present , kisses their hands , an £ bowing weekly and with a sweat amilel eaya to G-eneral Montauban . « I am weary of Til this ; take thy sword and pass it through mv body » Quite an Arab Hamlet in the wifeness-box ! The only trustworthy witness against the accused is Bel Kheib , an Arab officer in the French service . He has never varied in hia testimony , and his evidence is directly to the point . He also bears testimony , as do all

    the witnesses , to Doeneatit's strength of will and for < 5 e of character , subduing all opposition . "He was our Sultan , " said the witnesses , even the Cadis and A ^ as ; " . who could resist him ? " He ordered summary executions by the dozen , and though General Beau-tori * owns to having directed many of those , some remain to stamp Doineau as a military Judge Lynch , giving short . shrift to Arabs who had offended the lawsor himself !

    , , The French officers who were examined , to character , or to subsidiary points of the evidence , seemed all eager to exculpate Doi * neait . General Montauban suggested an eclatant exculpation : he advised a friend to let the prisoner have a pair of pistols ; suicide -would save the epaulettes front th & touch of the executioner . The pistols were not sent , and Doineau has been found guilty and condemned to death . It is said in Paris

    that the sentence will be changed to imprisonment for life . The whole story is a strange revelation of the manner of French government in Africa . Our gallant neighbours see in as unscrupulous and rapacious as ourselves in India iu our early career ; but with a difference . Ovtc worst offenders in . peculation were in old times the factors , or first civil servants of the Company , but the French have combined the soldier and the swindler . There is also this

    difference : the French government of Algeria is good in system , paved like Hell with good intentions , but peopled by blue devils iu red trousers . This very trial reveate a willingness to do justice to the Arabs on the part of the civil authorities , while the evila proceed froui the crimes of individuals . In

    India , on the contrary , there has been a system bad in plan and bad in faith , ably and 011 the whole kindly administered by energetic generous Englishmen . The cold cruelties of Indian rule came from civilians high iu offi . ee—all the genial sympathies and good tact from military instruments and subordinates . There is not much to boast of on

    either side ; though , in individually emulating our vices , the French , as becomes that apt nation , have bettered the example . It is also curious to note in this and other examples , what a thin veneer is modern civi lization . ' Scrape a Parisian—you find an Arab beneath . ' The accomplished officer of ; tho JLegion of Honour hears the doom of death quite unmoved ; but when he hears tho additional sentence that bis cross of tlic Region of Honour is to be removed , un soupir ctouffo

    s'echappe de sa . poitrine , et son regard se lovo vers lc ciel . ' Affecting ; yet this man lies in wait for his foe like a tiger , and rules the -wild beasts around him like a king among brutoa . On the other side of tho g lobe , En Boa as , with a namo like a Victoria Theatre villain , aud ' a face of feminine beauty , ' singularly combines the cool American p leading for hia lifeand the pirate murdering scores

    , by his own hand . If it humiliate us to tlunt that modern accomplishments , com mencing with ' French , aud jurisprudence , ' may endin robbery and murder , wo take heart , seeing every day that some men unite tho mental superiority of our time and nation to a physical endurance mid bravery of soul no savnge can show . Look at JSaiah . Buooiod , burned

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 5, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05091857/page/14/